Cancer return to liver

Nine months since the first diagnosis and twelve continuous chemo treatment, taking one month off chemo as certain drug need to stop at some point, during that one month he already encounter severe chest pain, chill, fatigue, night sweat, Re-visit emergency room. As all these symptom had occured. It's all due to the cancer regrow in the liver. Our family had to endure the same process again. Seem like the cancer is growing very fast without any chemo drug. Today is the date of his biopsy of the liver to determine what cancer cells growing again . Report will be review and explain by his oncology doctor on Sept 23, Tue. Whatever plan established by his Doctor, hope the chemo treatment will start ASAP.  Until then we all have to wait and pray for the best.

4 additional treatments

As of the result on May 28, the doctor decide to have another same dose of chemo for 4 more times, by then he might have to decide to change some medication or might change some of the treatment plan. At the meant time, doctor approve him to go back to work and thankful for the company allow him to work partially at home and office. He feel more energetic now and he feel better physically and mentally when he is able to going back to work again. As I have travel back to Hong Kong to take care my Dad was just had a stroke. My hubby was taking over to express how he feel on the blog. As I heard a lot of stories from some of my close friends who had diagnosis with different cancer with different stage. I truly believe that we are really lucky to be living in United State in term of having cancer treatment there. Having overly populated in one little country. It's really hard to get some proper care by the health care system of each individual. However, as my Dad had a stroke, being living in Hong Kong seem like there is more option for cure. Beside the Physical Therapy and the western medicine, Chinese Acupuncture is another additional treatment combine with Chinese medicine. it's really made an amazing progress for my Dad recovery. I have to say, I really have to see it to believe it. I am so proud of the younger generation here able to carry on the Chinese Medicine knowledge. My Dad was able to walk a little bit since he had a stroke in April this year. So by the end of July we would know what is the next game plan for my husband chemo treatment.

CT Scan Test result

Arrived at the hospital at 8am checking in to have my blood draw for test before the scan. At 8:45am, went up to 5th floor to check in for the CT  scan, had to drink down 2 bottles of beryllium in an hour to ready. The next 60 minutes waiting to see the doctor was the longest hour in my life, but it's all well worth it because when the doctor told us that the result was good. The cancer in the liver is totally gone and that the tumor in the pancrea has reduced another 20%, slower than before but positive progress. Due to the low white blood cells count, the doctor did not want me to have chemo again until 2 weeks later. Will have 4 more chemo treatments then my great doctor will revised my treatments plan and change the medicine.  Thank you GOD for the blessing and everyone well wishes, finally the doctor answer our question that we been asking since the beginning "how long do I have?"  He said now we can look at life in terms of years instead of months, the cancer will never be  cured due to the rare cancer type that I have but we will continue to fight.

An Important day May 28.

Kind of scared and excited! On the coming Wed 5/28 is the day for my next CT scan to find out the result. It's been a journey in the last 4 months for all of us, especially Loretta who have gone through a lot. Not only taking care of me, Daxton but also worry for her Dad in HK beside she still need to take care of her own health issues. Thank you God and everyone for praying for us, my amazing doctor and all the nurses at Virginia Mason hospital for taking care of me during the chemo treatments. I feel better and able to eat more to gain some of the weight back.  The journey is still a long way but the progress has been positive. I am looking forward to better recovery and better life quality.  

CT Scan schedule change to May 28

Just finish my 8th chemo treatments this week, all lab test are good. Blood counts is back to almost normal after I had the blood transfusion 2 weeks ago. Will have 3 weeks off then do the scan to see the result and the doctor will determined the next steps for my treatment.
I do feel better and has been able to eat a bigger portion now, my weights has been stabilize in the past 3 weeks staying around 138-141 lbs. hope to gain more back.
Lastly, I want to say Thank You to everyone, my family, neighbors, friends, colleagues for your support during this tough times. Really helps and give me the courage to fight and go thru this battle. 
Especially thanks to my wife Loretta for being strong to face two battles at the same time, taking care of me and also dealing with her Dad stroke in HK.
Love
Patrick Dang

The 2nd Scan coming up

It's May, time fly. This week my husband will do another scan to determine whether it's going to be continue couple more or take a break between the treatments. So far he is feeling good, side effect is getting a bit less. His skin color seem like is getting better instead of that muddy color before his diagnosis. We are looking for some good news this weeks. For my Dad as his positive attitude and without any other underlining health condition beside high blood pressure, he is able to gain some movement and feeling on his left side of his body. Hoping the acupuncture and therapy will help him recover. Thanks to my dear friend to teach me some reflexology skill to help my Dad to recover as well. It's seem like adding message and reflexology together it does help him to speed up the recovery. For me most of my kidney stone had already out and there is two tiny fragment inside. Hopefully it will be out too and will follow a year down the road. My husband work department will relocate out of state, either he have to go with the flow or he will stay behind to look for a new job. We try to stay if possible because of his treatment. I am too have to go look for a full time job to secure income and medical coverage for my family down the road. So far it's been a lot of changes for our family in the past months. But we just have to stay calm to break through everything one at the time. We are trying to do the best we can I know it's a lot to handle. However I know I am build to be a fighter. I will fight really hard to get through this with my family together. My special note today is to thank you for a group of 7 ladies (my husband colleagues) to fund in to buy me a Costco card and a spa gift card. As you have mention I do always think about food for my family and never dare to spend the money for spa for myself. Here is comes really thankful to have such a nice people around us. I will make use of it when things calm down to pamper and relax myself a bit.

More unexpected bad news

It's been over three months from the day begin. Beside I thought I am lucky enough to find out my kidney stone back in Dec 2013 even I have delay to take care of it till three months later and still not having any pain symptom till the procedure. Meanwhile the procedure consider a success to break down the stone. Day 2 from my procedure, I got another horrible news from oversea, my Dad had a stroke and half of his body was paralyzed. He is still in the hospital and not sure surgery is needed until they do another round of MRI. My husband was at his 7 round chemo, calling from the hospital and inform me his white blood count and red blood was low, so he need to have another booster shoot for the white cell and have to schedule another blood transfusion. I am an O+ carrier I don't know whether I can do that for him. They are trying to do the blood match now. My Dad, my husband and my son is the most important man in my life two of them have a major health problem. I cannot believe bad things really happen one after another. I truely believe being old is the gift from God and having a good health is the luxury of your life. I really feel I can't even have any room to breathe, my brain and my heart is completely mess up now. I can only pray and ask everyone to pray for my family to get through all these.

Good News !!! "Hallilujah" "Hurray"

Doesn't matter what words of joy I used. It's still hard to discribe the joy we have while the doctor interpret the scan result. The cancer in the pancreas shrink down almost 50% and those in the liver almost gone. We really thrilled to know the drugs that doctor have used is proved to be working. Since his white blood cell count is still on the low end Doctor had decided to do the injection to help the supply of the white blood count. Dose has increased to 3/4 this time. We all relief a bit of our worry temporary. He will continue his diet change, 70% vegetable and 30% fruit juice one every morning on a empty stomach, high protein with flex seed vegetable and fruit smoothie during the day for snack to maintain nutrition and avoid weight loss. No RED meat diet. While he will continue another 3 more treatments with the same chemo drugs follow with one more scan then the Doctor will decide what is the next game plan. I can now at least spare some time next month to take care my own health issue taking care my 7mm kidney stone out before it will cause any serve pain. So far we have a very up beat day although the Seattle weather still in rain but we can see through the sunshine from this covered rain cloud. We do not encounter this joy for a long time. We will continue to fight and thank you again for all the families, friends and neighbors far and close to provide all the kindness, courage and blessing during this healing process. Thanks for reading and all the concern and attention from everyone.

The 4th treatment

Really appreciate for everyone support to follow my blog for my husband conditions. Time fly, It's the 4th treatment. The white blood count is getting low, Doctor reduce half of the chemo drugs dose, he feel less nausea but more tired, may be because of his blood count was low. White Blood cell govern the immune system, it's a RED alert sign to be extra careful for any infection. His weight is stable this time, he even gain several pounds after we change the eating pattern. This is a good sign. He have better appetite this week. Since his taste of food is changed, he tends to have better appetite when he had strong favor dishes like curry. We try to maintain to drink Ensure and fruit + vegetable juice daily. White meat and vegetables diet. Beets soup almost every day. I mark my calendar Mar 26 - a very important day for both of us, we are going to review the result of the CT scan of his progress. According to the doctor he is quite optimistic. If the result is good, so he will remain the same drugs for another 4 more treatment. We have to be hopeful and looking forward to a good result to come!

The 3rd treatment and the Chinese Mushroom.

Done with the third treatment, he is still hanging on. But seem like his body is getting weaker. The Chemo drug seem to show it on his skin surface. I can see some color change on his skin, the good cell start getting affected. He's trying to eat and drink nutrition milk regularly with high protein, flaxseed fruit & Vegetable smoothie, but his appetite and the taste of chemical in his mouth really make him difficult to eat. On the top of nausea and vomiting already gave him all the discomfort. His weight is keep going down, 25 lbs since the beginning of the diagnosis. He need to maintain his weight and not letting it loss any further. This is pretty urgent that we really need to stop that to happen any further. It will only make him less tolerant to the drug and weakening the immune system. Instead of taking 3 days to recover his body, this time, its take 4 days. Hints he is weakening. He did make some progress to overcome the discomfort to force himself to eat. We split the meals into a small portion at a time with more snack time in between. It's a big step for him. We went back to his family doctor for a follow up visit. So thankful for her to refer us to such an amazing oncology team to take care of him. As she said she know it's serious diagnosis but the best she can do is to refer us to the best doctors and health care team she knows. She can't hold on to her emotions during the conversation and give us a big big hug before we leave. Attending the holistic consultation and Nutrition session have benefit a lot for both of us. We learn trick that can help make him maintain his calories and eliminate the metal taste in his mouth etc. The holistic doctor session allow me to find out more about the "Coriolus Versicolor" common Chinese name Yun Zhi. Amazing that there is some research studies done in US which I can found information through Cancer.org website. She direct me to go to the reliable factory web site in US to find those products. It's been used and well known in Asia for many years that can Prolong survival rate and lower the risk of re-occurrence. I am glad I find some doctors in US to support this idea. All we can do right now is to eat as nutritional as he can to prepare for another round of treatment.

One month since first diagnosis

It's been a roller coaster ride for all of us in our family. It's a month gone by, time fly. We can't imagine we have done so much in such a short period of time. My husband looking at me with his tired eye while I am still trying to rush things done. Besides focusing on taking care of his physical health. Mental health play a very important role throughout his treatment. Spare the moment and talk to him constantly will give him a lot of encouragement. Especially the first three days after the chemo treatment. I think his body is now creating a pattern. That first three days is very tough on him. Try to be with him and give him the courage to overcome the lack of appetite and nauseated feeling. The feeling to stop him intake of nutrition meals. By the forth day, his appetite regain and able to eat a little bit at a time. On the other hand don't over look to do some future planning and damage control. That way to avoid any more crisis arise. Another two more treatment to go for the first round, follow with a scan, another waiting game. Please keep praying for him, we hope there is a good report on the scan by the end of March.

2nd round treatment

Our spirit is up, he is happy, sleeping well and eating well. Having families and friends visiting us from near and far. His heart is filled with love and care. It really does cheer him up and put our sadness aside. Emotionally it has positive impact on his well-being. The booster from everyone around us seems to be getting us ready and prepare for the second round chemo tomorrow. Each additional treatment might make him more nausea and tired due to the immune system is getting weaker. We just have to turn on our high alert mode to keep fighting together. We also need to be extra careful of avoiding infected. Every moment we share with our families and friends are priceless and memorable. The Chemo morning start, after doctor review his blood count and conditions of the side effect. So far everything looks good and as doctor advice, most likely we would expect the same side effect after every treatment for few days and then get better after. He was excited to learn that the chemo drugs he was treated and won't cause him have a lot of hair loss. He is happy about that. Doctor decide to continue to use the same dose of chemo drugs for the next three treatments. Till the 4th treatment done, expect that would be happen on the 2nd week of March. By then he will have the CT scan again. At that time we would know whether the drugs are really doing the job or not. It's a blessing that he react well on the side effect.

The 4th Day after the first treatment

The past 4th days has been miserable for him, nausea, diarrhea, lost appetite, fatigue. Consult with the nurse and double the dose of Anti-Nausea medication. He finally feel better today and was the first day after release from the hospital he was able to eat some lunch and dinner. His pain level seem to be under control, the nerve block seem to be working for him. I feel really hard on him to manage all the discomfort in his body and the uncertainty of the outcome of the treatment. Sometime I would rather able to take some of his discomfort and suffering on me to relief him a bit. As being said in the beginning we will not give up and we will still carry on working as a team to keep fighting. One of my friend send me a Bible verse quote" I will be with you when you pass through the water....... When you walk through the fire...... The flame will not burn you for I the Lord your God be with you " " Do not worry about anything but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God" The God give me a chance to have my Mom back to overcome the 11 days coma in ICU three years ago, Please be kind to us and allow me one more chance to give the strength for my husband to go through this. We both rely on science for cure and comfort through the prayer to fulfill part of our emptiness inside.

Done the first treatment

Two days treatment is over. Oncology doctor and health care teams are just excellent and are so experience and caring. All the pre-chemo prep had performed a very good job to prevent all the side effects. Two good news: 1. CT scan report no more other area findings. The only existing liver and pancrea. 2. So far he is reponse to the side effect well. This coming two weeks rest from chemo will know how much he is able to tolerate the side effect even with all the under lining medication in placed. First night home, he is tired, nausea and lack of appetite. As dietitian has told us, he has to try eating a small portion at a time to get his energy and nutrition. After the routine medication I have encourage him to intake some meal before rest. There is four treatments total every other two weeks. The long journey is just the beginning. Patient, care and encouragement for him are very important. It's a long two days for both of us, it's my turn to take a rest in my own bed, give myself some good night rest tonight.

During the first course of treatment

We admit to the hospital getting all kind of prep ready. At 9:30pm chemotherapy finally start. Full body scan had performed just to be sure there isn't anywhere else in his body has anymore cancer cell found. Keep our finger across the report is negative and normal. We had to salute our oncology Dr. Picozzi. He participate in the pancreatic cancer research study. As mentioned previously this is consider a rare case of carrying two different type of cancer cells in his pancreas. The adenocarcinoma and neurondocrine. Doctor mentioned will invent a new medication to treat his conditions. He will named this research using my husband name " Patrick's program " At this point we see some bright side and hope ahead. My husband might have a chance to try out new trail medication if it comes available. The chemo using four different drug infusion. Some take as fast as half an hour, the longest one take 8 hours. There is also pre-med taken before this chemo. Such as anti nausea medication and prevent blood clog med. I know he is a bit nervous today, having me by his side. It will give him more comfort to sleep through the night.

First Chemotherapy - 2 consecutive day treatment

My effort finally paid off. My husband able to start the first Chemotherapy treatment on this Wednesday. Two weeks battle since the diagnosis. Phone call after phone call. Finally, it's time; it's time for the army of medicine entering his body to fight back. We need that stronge dose of cocktail to stop this cancer cell doing any more damage to him. I am glad that doctor able to admit him and stay one night at the hospital for this two consecutive days treatment. At least he can rest better and are fully monitoring by health care professional to make sure he response well on the medication. Once the Chemo start we really have to limited everyone visitation. As Chemo will make his immune system very weak and we can't afford to make him sicker. I can communicate with anyone with any concern so he can focus on his recovery. We feel really blessed and feel all the generous love surrounded by all our families and friends. At this tough time this support is very important to bring up our spirit.

Day 10 - Reality kick in

This is the first time in the hospital after the diagnosis; surgery implant for the port goes well. The first day we both taste of the water being very tired and exhausted after a long day in the hospital. Besides trying to confirm all the appointments another thing we need to battle for is our job security and the medical insurance securely in place during this long battle of treatment. We learn that not all the company will give you sympathy in term of taking a long term sick leave. It's time for us to reach out with the hospital social workers. They are there to answer all the questions and resource any possible benefit you might get from the government. Next week he have the nerve block appointment confirmed and the Chemo will be confirm by Monday, mostly likely he will admit to the hospital to stay one night for the Chemo treatment due to the fact that the treatment last for two consecutive days. I am hoping the treatment can start next week. Glad that we have a good supportive network in place. Don't refuse other people offer you a helping hand. You need it. Having someone can help cook for us and offer us child care for our 10 years old that lift us off tons of load on our shoulder. Now we have two days weekend rest. Glad that his group of friends able to take him out, to get away from all the worry and sorrow a little bit.

Day 8,9 - Scheduling the treatment

Trying to schedule all the appointments, my advice is don't rely on call back. Get all the direct number from each department and reach them yourself. That would speed up your process. We choose the procedure to implant a port on his chest for coming Chemo instead of the picc line, that way it will have less chance of having infection. Nerve block appointment has scheduled next week so at least he will get rid of taking the "oxycontin" for pain. That high dose of pain killer will make you addicted if you don't pull yourself out from it. We will meet with the oncology doctor again tomorrow; hopefully he will plan out all the schedule of the chemo appointment. At least we have something moving forward now. His pain control is getting a little better so at least he can start eating a little bit at a time besides just taking "Ensure".

Day 7 - Review of Biopsy results

Finally after a long long wait over the weekend. Today is the date that we will possibly review the biopsy results. A very shocking recovery, my husband was diagnosis Stage 4 Pancreatic and Liver Cancer. The doctor who consult us is the Director of the Virginia Mason Onconogy Team in Seattle WA. He was having the very rare combination of two type of cancer cell in his Pancreas and have already spread to the liver, it's only able to prolong and improve his quality of life but the sad part is, that's wasn't able to completely cure. It will come back in the future. So at this point of time, the doctor aiming to control his pain by using nerve block and start chemotheory right away. We really don't know how's the life expectancy is till we start the treatment. It's shocking for him and it's also shocking for everyone around him. Sadly including our 10years son. Today we have to wait for the coordination of the implant of the device to the future chemo treatment. I know I am the center of eveything right now. I have to stay stronge to fight this battle with my husband together.

Day 2, 3

My husband still in pain and tired but we still need to wait at the doctor's office entire morning to arrange the oncology appointment and the biopsy. Half a day gone by still no news, Toward almost the end of the day, finally got the Biopsy appointment as early as the following day. We really want to know for sure what stage and how bad that is. Whether the cancer can be treat or not. So we can act fast. Thankful for all the health care providers assistance, whole day in the hospital and successfully take out some good tissue to be tested. Again go throught the weekend and it's a very long waiting game for us. Oncology appointment won't happen till the following Tuesday. Now we just have to watch the clock ticking till the time come.

Day 1 - Jan 15, 2014

My whole family life is completely change on the night that I send my husband to Emergency Room because of his severe abdomen pain. He is only 52 years old. The discomfort start about one month and we've been following up with the primary care, up to the stage after X-ray on the stomach and ultra sound on the abdoman. Doctor find some adnormality on the Pancrea and Liver. Right on that evening he is suffer from a severe pain, emergency is my only option to find out immediately. The worst nightmare, shocking and unbelievable news begin, Doctor review it's most likely is Cancer. At 11pm Doctor had contact with primary care doctor to line up appointment with Oncology. Even the doctor didn't review a lot of information because of insufficient for him to do so. But you can feel the urgency of every health care provider around you is trying to push and race against time.